Romanian Odyssey Part One: To the lighthouse (Farul Constanta)

Think of Romanian football, and what's the first thing that springs to mind? Adrian Mutu? The bleached hair of France '98? Andrei Ratiu's blue hair at Euro 2024? Perhaps even the fact that two clubs are at war over who owns the Steaua Bucharest name, or the fact the same seems to be true of Universitea Craiova who also have two clubs?

Rather than get into the gritty details of both of these cases, both of which seem well-documented elsewhere (if you can wrap your head around the insanity), I wanted to explore the country firsthand and take in a few games while out there. It was a frustrating wait for the fixtures around the weekend of the 15th February to be announced, given that my priority was seeing my Football Manager darlings, Dinamo Bucharest.

I saw that Farul Constanta, some two and half hours away on the Black Sea coast, were also playing on the Monday of the previous weekend, meaning I could turn a potential weekender into a full week exploring two Romanian cities. Given the insanely cheap accommodation prices, that's exactly what I decided to do, flying out from Vienna on Sunday, then returning the following Sunday.

I would then travel from Bucharest to Constanta on Monday, with plenty of time to check in and find my way to the neighbouring village where the team actually play. The stadium in Constanta is, to my knowledge, undergoing some renovation. From here, I'd stay in Constanta a couple of days before heading back to Bucharest to explore the city on Thursday.

The Journey - Day One

When you book these things, it's rare you consider or even think about the potential delays or complications, or even the general frustrations of a life of travel. Well firstly, I'd been plagued by a sore throat that seemed intent on clinging on and making it look as if I were dying on various modes of transport.

Alongside that, I'd landed in Bucharest in good time, only to have two taxis cancel on me. The first was  Bolt, who was apparently right next to me according to the GPS. Panicking it was on a lower floor, I rushed down only for him to cancel and charge me anyway. The second was courtesy of one of the taxi machines in the airport - you take a ticket and wait. I did, and naturally he didn't show.

I waited for the train into the city instead, finding no English ticket machines and needing to speak to a human. This was still a good half-hour away and wouldn't get me anywhere near my accomodaton in Voluntari, but it would still be easier to get a taxi to that accomodation, even if it would take some 40 minutes. 

I arrived, only to lack any access due to not having received any codes prior to arrival. I called the guy, only for the phone to break down mid-call, but thankfully it was resolved and I could finally rest before the train to Constanta. Surely things would be calmer from this point.

Day Two

Well, no. For whatever reason, day two was even worse. I left with plenty of time, taking the excellent bus and metro system to the Gara de Nord, only to find a delay of 30 mins. This snowballed to eventually 90 minutes, at which point I left to see if there was another way to Constanta, picking up some toothpaste and deodorant while I was at it...

On seeing the only other way seemed to be via a random minivan, I went back to the station to find the delay had decreased to 80 minutes. I then saw the train at the platform! I would have missed it if not for Romania's more relaxed laws on passenger safety, as I was able to climb on board while the train was exiting the station. There's no telling what would have happened if I'd missed that train.

It was a two and a half hour journey through anonymous countryside and abandoned buildings, as well as spillways and canals leading out to the Black Sea. It reminded me of Fife, and not just because I could hear a Scottish accent down the carriage on the phone to someone. When I arrived, I took the 100 bus to a more central point, then walked to the accomodation, which was around 20-25 minutes away. 

I had time to drop some stuff off and take some cash out, then it was off to the small matter (genuinely) of Farul Constanta v Gloria Buzau.

The Lighthouse Family - Farul Constanta v Gloria Buzau

First off, you're probably wondering what all the lighthouse stuff is about, with a reference to Virginia Woolf's excellent novel in the title, as well as everyone's favourite nineties soul outfit right here in the body. Well, the Farul in Farul Constanta is, of course, Romanian for lighthouse. Unsurprisingly, the club has a huge affinity with the Black Sea on the coast of which it lies.

As mentoned, Farul actually don't play in Constanta, but 10km away in Ovidiu, and I'm not exaggerating when I say it really is the middle of nowhere. I took a Bolt from the apartment, the driver of which was a friendly Steaua/Arsenal fan, who undersold his excellent English in explaining Steaua/FCSB's recent craziness. We had a great chat about all things football in both Romania and England, as well as across Europe.

On arrival, he predicted Farul would win given Buzau were rock bottom of the Casa Liga going into proceedings. He also said that I should prepare for a unique experience in terms of the size and quality of the ground, though it was probably on par with the lower end of League One. If any English equivalent sprung to mind, it was probably Barrow, though perhaps due to it being the middle of nowhere, coastal, and very blue. 

What followed was a game that had me wishing the train had been delayed another hour. In fact, I was yearning for Czech football. Yes, Czech football.

It was a game lacking any real quality, with a couple of reasonably good chances in either half. Farul being the better placed in the table looked the more likely to score, though their profligacy in front of goal was comical. That said, you could also tell that Buzau were bottom, despite their couple of decent chances on the counter. 

They seemed happy with what would be a valuable point, until Farul's pressure eventually told right at the very end via substitute Victor Dican's header. The game didn't really deserve a winner, but if any one of them did deserve it, you'd probably say Farul. This being their first shot on target from twelve tells you the full story.

The most depressing aspect of the game was undoubtedly just before half-time when some of the Farul ultras goaded Buzau forward Kevin Luckassen with monkey chants toward the end of the half. All I'll say is it's pathetic, embarassing and shameful, and obviously has no place in society, let alone football. I'd only ever seen this once before in the Zbrojovka away end at Prostejov, and it's not something I want to see ever again.

Alongside all of this tedium, racism, and general unpleasantness, it was unbelievably cold - probably aorund -4 degrees. It was almost certainly the coldest game I'd ever experienced, as well as one of the worst. That said, I was driven back via Bolt by a very kind (retired) sailor, whose only two trips to the UK in his life had been to Newcastle. 

He was a native Constantian and an absolute gentleman, and despite his limited English, we had a great chat on the way back. I was back at the apartment, thankful for the opportunity to warm up, and also thankful I wouldn't have to make that ballache of a journey ever again...

That said, I still look forward to exploring the city itself before returning to Bucharest on Thursday. Stay tuned for the next blog on the rest of my week, as well as my visit to Dinamo on Saturday!

Five things you didn't know about (Farul) Constanta:

1.) The club in its current guise was founded in 2009 by Romanian legend Gheorge Hagi, with the team nicknamed 'Hagi's kids' as a result. The man who began his career at a previous iteration of Farul made a sensational move to the dugout in 2014, where since he's won two league titles and a Romanian Cup.

2.) The club began life in the third tier back in 2009, but it only took them three years to get up to the top flight. They've been a mainstay ever since, with their first league title coming in the fifth top flight season. 

3.) Confusingly, Constanta also existed in another guise, much like a lot of other Romanian clubs who went to the wall. The original FC Farul formed in 1920, and were virtual mainstays of the top flight themselves through the nineties and noughties. They dropped in 2010, then went bankrupt in 2016 and dropping to the fourth tier. In 2021, they dissolved and opted to merge with the newly formed FCV Constanta. 

4.) The Port of Constanta is almost 30km long, and it the 4th largest port in Europe. The city also bears a variety of influences from various empires, namely Greek, Roman, and Ottoman, which a short walk around the city will attest to.

5.) Interestingly, Turks make up the 2nd largest minority of Constanta after Tatars at 1.66% and 2.58% respectively. After this, the largest minorities are Roma (0.57%), Greek (0.07%), Bulgarian (0.02%), then Hebrew (0.01%).